


Tooltip

by tteoktokki



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Empurata, Gen, Mnemosurgery, Original Character(s), geez uh!, is "the stripping of a persons individuality" a tag, we have fun in this house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 10:43:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13611705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tteoktokki/pseuds/tteoktokki
Summary: Factoid questions something. Dropthing questions Factoid. Gadget wants to go home.





	Tooltip

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! this is a companion piece to [my friend's work](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13570122/chapters/31246731), specifically the Factoid bit in chapter 3! i love factoid with all of my whole human heart, and i wanted to make a kind of... "spotlight on factoid" though i doubt this will be the last time i do so. reading that bit in my friends fic made me think about factoid's actual thought process during it, so here it is! all 900 something words of it. its a lot. factoid is my original character, and this fic has a lot of the information you need to know about them. please also dont dunk on me for having an oc its so fun.... let me have fun in this house

Factoid is a tool.

This definition of tool being the one most people think of when they hear it: something to be used. Not a person. They’d been sent to the Lost Light as a gift of sorts. A gift, because a person is not what Factoid is. Factoid is not even their original name.

Factoid knows this, but every query results in [REDACTED].

Redacted would be Factoid’s least favorite word if they were capable of having favorite or least favorite anything. It resulted from most searches involving Factoid’s own origins, some of the few bits of information just outside of their reach. Any person would have felt angry at this. Factoid did not.

Factoid felt nothing. The Senate made sure of this. Everything they had done to others individually was concentrated on one person. Worse than empurata. Worse than mnemosurgery. Worse than death. The Senate took someone one day and never gave them back. They turned a person into a living data archive.

Factoid felt nothing in particular about this fact. Factoid, as stated before, feels nothing in particular about anything at all. Factoid sits on the bridge and answers questions. Factoid does not “sleep” or laugh or make jokes or have friends. Factoid just is, and Factoid does not question this.

But Factoid questions [REDACTED]. Factoid questions [REDACTED] because it is abnormal. They know vast amounts of classified information; their function is to provide this information to the Administrators: formerly the Senate, currently many high-ranking members of the new Cybertronian government. Factoid’s own vocalizer supplies the word “[REDACTED]” when information should not be spoken to those without clearance, but Factoid still knows these facts. Redacting information audially does not stop Factoid from knowing them.

This, though. This was not just redacted audially. It’s redacted everywhere. Factoid’s clearance has always been considered as high as the Administrator’s, but this is... above them. This was something that has always made them feel uneasy. Or it would, if Factoid had feelings.

Factoid makes the request again. And again. On the bridge, in their downtime, they request it. As they remove vandalism from the Starscream Autopedia page for the third time that morning, they request it. The answer does not come. Factoid makes a quick, unrelated search for proof of the existence of Primus. Just to update their information.

A voice breaks their concentration. Dropthing of Carthex, former member of manual class, is addressing them. This mech has not spoken to Factoid previously. If Factoid was in the business of wondering things, they might have wondered why he was bothering them now. Surely his current work did not require knowing any new information.

“Hey! Factoid?” And with that Factoid knew that at least he had heard their name before, but he had not spoken enough about them to know it definitively. The upturn in his voice was grating. Or, it would have been if Factoid cared about that kind of thing.

Leftover from their original Admins, Factoid could not help the words that came out of their mouth, nor could they help the smile that forced its way onto their face as they spoke them, “Hello, Dropthing! Today’s date is – ”

Generally, this song and dance made people physically uncomfortable. Factoid, despite their inability to show or feel emotions, understood them in others, and they knew that they made others uncomfortable. They couldn’t help it. The time and date routine was hardwired in; there’s no way to avoid it when someone addresses them by name for the first time. Daily. Factoid would get sick of it if they were capable of feeling that way.

Factoid ended the information in the usual way, “ – and how may I help you?” It was pleasant. Their whole forced happiness thing... it was mocking. It was mocking, and Factoid knew this. The Senators thought it was funny the way they had taken Factoid’s emotions and replaced them with a false happiness that they could never actually feel. It would have made anyone else miserable.

Factoid felt none of this.

“What’s her name?”

Dropthing spoke his question in a way that was overly loud and overly enunciated. Factoid was capable of discerning auditory stimulation at the same level as any person could. It’s insulting. It should have been insulting. It should have been a lot of things, but Factoid kept smiling.

The Autobot next to him... Gadget of Carthex. Wrongly accused of mnemoterrorism, though it had been written in their databanks as truth for an unacceptably long amount of time. The Senate had given Factoid a lot of purposefully false information. They still have to update some of it every now and then. Empurata victim. Accused of murdering an unarmed prisoner of war. Served time in prison.

“Gadget of Carthex is – “

“Wait, seriously? Factoid, are you sure?” Dropthing cut Factoid off as though this was sufficient information. Factoid supposes it was, but there’s no harm in listening to them speak. Many people did not even let them finish sentences.

Factoid is sure of everything they say. Everything they say that doesn’t have a [CITATION NEEDED] attached is information they’ve double checked.

So Factoid repeats: “Gadget of Carthex is – “

“Factoid, stop.” And again, they are cut off. No gratitude. Their forced smile fades into their neutral expression.

Their search results were stacking up on their HUD. Starscream, Gadget, mnemoterrorism, Factoid, Primus. They closed them and sat in silence, staring forward, waiting for another question to answer. It was all they were good for.


End file.
